ONLY ON 3: Wilmington business closed in honor of Robert E. Lee's birthday

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- Many businesses and schools were closed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday. Today at least one Wilmington business was closed in remembrance of another American leader.

Neighbors noticed Woodbury & Co. Commercial and Personal Insurance off Military Cutoff was closed today in honor of the birthday of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The controversial move has people on both sides of the argument speaking out.

"I think they shouldn't shut down for Robert. E. Lee's birthday, because it's not a holiday, and they're missing out on their money and their business," Christopher McDougal of Wilmington said.

Jack Stanfield of Wilmington said, "If the business owner feels he needs to close for respect to what our nation has stood for, then he should have the right to do it himself."

Many small business owners we spoke with said they were open on both MLK Day and Robert E. Lee's birthday, because they say they could not afford to close.

We were unable to reach anyone at Woodbury & Co. to see why they chose to take Lee's birthday off.

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Any business owner should have the right to close their business on what ever day they choose. I just hope they close on 1/19 out of respect for Robert E. Lee, not out of disrespect for the MLK holiday...

THANKS FOR STANDING UP FOR A GREAT GENERAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY, WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD DO THE SAME. THIS IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THE SOUTH BUT
ABOUT AMERICA, AND AS AMERICAN, I AM PROUD TO BE FROM THE SOUTH.
WOODBERRY INS. IS A GREAT COMPANY AND THE FAMILY HAS DONE A LOT OF GOOD THINGS FOR WILMINGTON, MORE THAN "MOST" OF US CITIZENS, BUT I SUPPOSE WWAY DOESN'T REPORT THOSE THINGS. WOODBERRY HAS THE RIGHT TO CLOSE AND OPEN ON ANY DAY THEY WISH--THAT IS THE AMERICAN WAY, AND THANK GOD FOR PEOPLE LIKE THE WOODBERRY FAMILY AND THEIR EMPLOYEES. WWAY NEEDS TO REPORT ON HOW AMERICA NEEDS JOBS AND HOW CAN WE CREATE NEW JOB AND ON ALL THE CRIME THAT IS GOING ON IN THE TOWN INSTEAD OF WHO IS CLOSED AND WHY THEY CLOSED.

Robert E. Lee refused to draw a sword against his home - Virginia. I would do the same for North Carolina. If you wouldn't, you need to leave it - NOW. Slavery was alive and well a LOT longer under the American flag than it was the Confederate flag, so why all the criticism anyway? Robert E. Lee was an honorable man, and his birthday is what I celebrate on my January day off from work. Way to go, Woodbury & Co. - YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WWAY is trying to turn this into a sensational news story in keeping with the dictate of their news director. Must have been a pretty slow day in the news department for them. Unfortunately for them, if they would educate themselves regarding REL, they would see there was more to the man than the fact he was a general for the south in the Civil War. My boss has a true admiration for him that has nothing to do with black or white.

Any independent businessowner has the right to close for any reason on any given day. That’s what makes them “independent”.

Mr. Woodbury is a fine person in his own right & doesn’t deserve to have his company exposed to innuendos like this. Shame on WWAY for making it appear this way.

I agree WWAY is making more out of it - HELLO - thats what news people do - all these people are slamming WWAY, but yet, you watch the station, you get on THEIR website and post comments - if they are so bad, quit watching and posting - :)

There are good people out there and great stories out there, but that story does not hit the headlines - tragedy, horrible does. That just goes to show this sick world that we are living in.

All you see if rape, murder, shooting, fighting, etc... that sells -

Someone that held the door open or just plain good ole people, that does not sell. - thats not news - and the news is going to go after what sells and they are going to stir up crap like this headline here to sell - and we fall for it because we get on their website and post about it.
Wouldnt it be great if we would do this post like every other post and stay positive... encourage each other -
wouldnt it be nice to have a headline of noticing "good" people.. but majority of the head line is bashing someone or tearing down a company...
WWAY go out and find these GOOD people w/ GOOD REAL stories - pass on what life should be about, helping, serving, respect, caring for each other.

You're right: "Wouldn’t it be great if we would do this post like every other post and stay positive" WWAY should have done just that; portrayed it in a positive light. Someone (Mr. Woodbury) honoring a much forgotten player in our American history. Not air the story in “scandalous light”. It caused me do a little research on Mr Lee and I found he was a virtuous man. The only person to ever graduate from West Point without a single demerit. Thank you for the history lesson learned.

I congratulate Woodbury on taking a day off to celebrate a historic figure. Other businesses close for Martin Luther King, Jr. What makes him more important than Lee? They were both important men in history. Why does King have a holiday and Lee doesn't? Why don't other historic figures have their own holiday?

Woodbury is a privately owned business and if they choose to honor this date, then they should be able to. If they want to close the last Friday of every month, then they should be able to. If they want to close every rainy day, then they should be able to. They don't need anyone from outside telling them how to run their business or casting criticism or racist remarks.

It's nobody's business why they were closed for Lee's birthday. They don't have to answer to anyone. Did WWAY call businesses that were closed on MLK day to inquire as to why they chose to close their business? Then why is this any different? By the way, this isn't the first year they have closed on this day. They closed last year too...and life kept on going.

Congrats Woodbury, for anyday you wish to observe in honor this Great Nation's History. Many have died in defense of our Rights and our FREEDOM to CHOOSE. I applaud you and anyone else who excercise on those rights and refuse the biases that criticize those who do.
Respectfully to all,
Objective Observer, DAV

Way to go Woodbury & Co! If others had the guts and glory that you have displayed today then maybe our country would have more pride in all historical moments, including Robert E. Lee's Birthday. As a non-corporate company you should be aloud to choose what holidays you want to acknowledge.

if this seriously becomes a holiday then i say that we start having a holiday on april 27 in the honor of ulysses s grant! without him then lee would not have been able to admit the south's defeat in the civil war and sign the treaty. or the better idea is to just skip all of this and stop making up holidays just to be controversial and get some free publicity for a store no one has heard of before.

Oh, another transplant...shocker there! Why don't you post to your fellow Yankee the same thing you posted to me, since he was the original one to disagree with all the other posters. Funny that it's OK for him to disagree, but no one else.

BTW, Einstein, read my post again. No where in it did I say for the poster to go back up north. That's YOUR words. I only asked him why he moved here in the first place if he didn't like Southerners. But I would certainly not stand in the way of progress if you BOTH wanted to head up north. Happy trails!

i will admit i am not from wilmington. and i dont mind it here at all. but it is your attitude that i have an issue with. it is the narrow minded and narcissistic attitude only "true southerners" belong here and everyone else should go back to where ever they are from. i am not trying to slam you and whatever you believe is right and wrong but i am just saying that if you are going to celebrate one civil war general who signed at the treaty at appomattox then why not the other? or just leave things the way they are let it just be a memory. not every person from history needs a holiday. who next?! general patton? jimi hendrix? george clooney? all i am saying is that is controversial and everyone is entitled to their opinion. now be a "true southerner" and show some of that southern hospitality you are supposedly known for, or is that just another thing of the past you support but only when the time is right? i am sorry for offending you, all i wanted was to share an opinion on a current event. if we were face to face, would you have snapped like that? or are you just hiding behind the screen of the internet?

Where is southern hospitality? Well, Southerners aren't saints; and if they're treated rudely, they generally give back as good as they got. But if you're considerate and good mannered to them, they will be the same to you....even Bubba.

One guy gets his feathers ruffled because Southerners want to celebrate Gen. Lee’s birthday, so he suggests Southerners also celebrate Gen. Grant’s birthday (that ain’t gonna happen, just like Northerners would NEVER celebrate Gen. Lee’s birthday). I was OK with that though, and just attributed his comment to a low IQ.

However, he also stated, “without him (Gen. Grant) then Lee would not have been able to admit the south's defeat in the civil war and sign the treaty”. Don’t you think that’s a little rude and offensive and trying to rub Southerners faces in it AGAIN that we lost the war? Don’t you think we’re very well aware of that and sick of hearing it? Every Northerner I’ve ever met continues to remind me.

Then another *sshole butts in and says, “Settle down Bubba”, as if all Southerners are fat redneck trailer trash. Yeah, that tends to rile me just a bit. Southerners will show all the hospitality you can imagine, but we would be absolute fools to be doormats. When you take away a Southerners pride, hospitality flies out the window.

Then you come along telling me you have an issue with how I’m reacting to all of this, while not mentioning your fellow Northerners posts at all. You proceed to call me unhospitable, narrow minded, and narcissistic, while attempting to tell me how wrong I am to respond to rude insults. Then you apologize for offending me, and expect me to understand your rant was just to share your opinion.

If Southerners want to celebrate Gen. Lee’s birthday, what’s the harm? I sure wouldn’t care if you celebrated Gen. Grant’s birthday. What you call “snapped” is what I call standing up to someone who’s trying to trash me. Any time you want to meet in person, let me know and we’ll arrange a place so that neither of us will be “hiding behind the screen of the internet”. I’ll even bring Bubba with me, just so you can better understand what trailer life is all about. It will be a real education for you.

So where are your manners? Yes, I was born in Wilmington and have lived here for over 65 years. If I'm grouchy, it's because I'm old, not because I'm from the South. Too bad your Mama didn't teach you to mind your own business and not to talk back to your elders.

So what you are saying is that if you want to be an indian, all you have to do is move to a reservation, join a tribe, or make an imitation head dress.

and for you history buffs

Casualties during the Civil war were 365,000 Union, 265,000 Confederates. Truth is that we really didnt want slavery we were just looking for a reason to kill a bunch of yaw, so once we got bored we just stopped.

If you want proof why didnt yaw just load up after the war and come on down and claim your victory.

but thanks too most of you we know have a good use for our swamp Land, yaw call it subdivisions.

I arrived here for the first time in 1973. It was an unspoiled paradise. The only negatives were lousy pizza and no bagels. That was more than compensated for with barbecue and collards.

One of the reasons that I have stayed here, been accepted by locals, and been successful is that I A) respect the culture and B) don't try to change it.

Now the worst that I can say about your post is that it reflects an insensitivity toward the commonly held beliefs surrounding Robert E. Lee. Comparing Grant to Lee is like comparing a jute floormat to a fine oriental carpet. Lee was a reasonably competent general (he was NOT a brilliant tactician, though he was smert enough to have a lot of them working for him) but his greatest claim to fame is that he was one of the most principled and ethical leaders in American history. He IS the Lee in Washington-Lee University. Grant, meanwhile, went on to preside over the second most corrupt administration in US history.

Again, not talking about you or all immigrants, far too many come here and immediately set about trying to transform Wilmington into Brooklyn or East Meadow. It baffles me - they moved here because the taxes were so low and life was so simple and laid back, then immediately vote yes on any looney-toon bond referendum for any cause whatsoever. They love the natural beauty but then rejoice when someplace like Mayfaire gets built and you don't get to see horse galloping across open meadows on your way to work, as you used to.

Now the conservative Leo Gorcey-like voices coming out of Brunswick County give me some hope, but for every one of them you have one moving into the Historic District, tuning into NPR and MSNBC just like they've always done, and completely understanding why we need to raise taxes to help_________ (insert any whacko liberal cause).

So if you always keep in mind that this is THEIR territory (we left ours, and we left it for a reason) and "when in Rome do as the Romans do," you'll find no better, warmer, and greater people in the world.

Truth be told, having seen what the great Northern influx has done to this state in the past forty years, especially around Raleigh and Charlotte, I probably resent it more than most natives. Paradise has been destroyed. I saw it happen to Maryland in the Seventies, Virginia in the Eighties, and now it's our turn. It's like a malignant growth coming out of New Yawk (Da Island!)/New Joisey and growing Southward.

Nothing personal against you or anyone, but collectively, had I known that five-million of you people were going to follow me down here, I'd have kept heading South and would likely be in Tierra del Fuego by now....but I'm sure their pizza stinks and they don't even have collards.